Redundancy

[Stegee]

Hi,

I'm after some advice on redundancy and would appreciate any help.

My mother has worked for the same company for over 10 years as a shop manager. During an online team meeting with several managers and her boss yesterday she found out that her shop is going to be shut when her boss put a profit/loss report on the screen (that everyone could see) which detailed the shop closure. When she asked about this her boss said "we'll speak about this after the meeting" and, once the managers meeting had ended, she confirmed the shop closure (due to it's low profitability) and redundancy. Other than to detail the expected date of redundancy (Jan 2021) and inform her that she must work until the redundancy date to qualify for redundancy pay she has been given very little further information. She's in her early 60's and is obviously worried that she will struggle to find employment.

I've told her that she should formally complain about the method she was made aware of her redundancy because I think it's disgraceful that she should find out in an e-meeting where several collegues were present and witnessed her getting this news.

Thanks in advance for any comments and your time
Steven

[ULA]

Hi, to be able to provide some guidance I need to clarify the context of the meeting and it would be helpful if you could answer the following few questions:

What was the agenda for the meeting?
Was it a regular management meeting with other shop managers with a standard agenda?
Was it a specific meeting scheduled to discuss the financial situation of the business and potential for shop closures?
Do you know how many people are affected by the closure of the shop?

[Stegee]

Hi Ula and thanks

Hi, to be able to provide some guidance I need to clarify the context of the meeting and it would be helpful if you could answer the following few questions:

What was the agenda for the meeting? I'd have to check but I don't think they have an agenda set, it's just a weekly sales/performance meeting.
Was it a regular management meeting with other shop managers with a standard agenda? Yes
Was it a specific meeting scheduled to discuss the financial situation of the business and potential for shop closures? No
Do you know how many people are affected by the closure of the shop? 2 - her assistant has been on extended furlough (as the shop closed for 3 months during the pandemic) and she is also now being made redundant

It was a standard weekly meeting where they discuss the shops in the region and how they are doing financially etc, which they have on a weekly basis. No mention of shop closures beforehand or that it would be part of the meeting, although during the pandemic all the shops were closed and whilst staff were on furlough they did annouce closures of some shops (I don't know exactly how many).

Hope this helps and thanks again

[ULA]

It does not sound like the announcement that the retail branch where your mother works is at risk of closing early next year was handled in as sensitive a way as possible. Are other stores at risk and was this announced at the same time? The company may have felt that as it was a regular management meeting, it was the most appropriate way to ensure that this group of managers heard the news at the same time.

As part of any redundancy process it is important that once a company has decided that possible redundancies need to be considered, they should communicate that as soon as possible after the decision is made. Although, they could have considered who was in the meeting and maybe speak to any managers concerned just prior to the meeting and then announce in the full meeting - just my view on how they could have handled it differently

What should now happen is given that there are only two employees affected at the store then individual consultations should start to take place, albeit the company needs to consider how they go about this given the date of anticipated closure is over 4 months away.